The Trade-In Mar­ket­place, acces­si­ble via AutoTrader.com, KBB.com (Kel­ley Blue Book), par­tic­i­pat­ing deal­er web­sites and in select phys­i­cal deal­er­ships, enables con­sumers to get an instant offer on their used cars, sight unseen. The offers are based on an exten­sive set of para­me­ters, includ­ing VIN-spe­cif­ic infor­ma­tion, details sur­round­ing the con­di­tion of the car and the impact of the spe­cif­ic vehicle’s his­to­ry and after-mar­ket equip­ment. The result is that con­sumers receive an offer on their vehi­cles that rep­re­sents an amount that a deal­er would be will­ing to pay for their vehi­cle imme­di­ate­ly.

Because it’s impor­tant to imple­ment online and offline strate­gies when using a tool like the Trade-In Mar­ket­place, Flo­res offered the fol­low­ing tips for deal­ers using the Trade-In Mar­ket­place:

Show­case Your Trade-In Process Online:Promi­nent­ly sig­nal on your web­site and oth­er mar­ket­ing plat­forms that you have an online appraisal tool that will enable shop­pers to get an instant cash offer on their vehi­cle. You can lever­age the brand equi­ty of AutoTrader.com and cap­ture the atten­tion of shop­pers online.

Reduce the Pres­sure: Let the cus­tomer know that you are very inter­est­ed in the vehi­cle, regard­less of whether he/she wants to trade in the vehi­cle or sim­ply sell it to the deal­er.

Let the Cus­tomer Take the Lead: If they haven’t gen­er­at­ed a Trade-In Mar­ket­place offer by the time they walk-in, take the cus­tomer to the Trade-In Mar­ket­place kiosk or a work­sta­tion and allow them to answer the vehi­cle con­di­tion ques­tions them­selves.

Involve the Cus­tomer in the Walk Around: Don’t leave the cus­tomer sit­ting alone while you val­i­date the con­di­tion of their vehi­cle. Invite them to do the walk around with you, and talk with them about the fac­tors that affect the val­ue of their vehicle—both the pos­i­tive and the neg­a­tive.

“Enabling con­sumers to be more involved in the trade-in process has proven to be a win­ning strat­e­gy that helps deal­ers increase cus­tomer sat­is­fac­tion and stand out from the crowd,” Flo­res con­tin­ued. “Enhanc­ing in-store process­es is not always easy, but best-in-class deal­ers take that chal­lenge head on and use it to sep­a­rate them­selves from the com­pe­ti­tion.”

Accord­ing to a sur­vey of over 12,000 Trade-In Mar­ket­place users, two out of three of those who redeemed their offers thought the tool was valu­able in help­ing them nego­ti­ate with deal­ers and improved their inter­ac­tions at the deal­er­ship. As a result, 77% of those sur­veyed were will­ing to rec­om­mend Trade-In Mar­ket­place to oth­ers and to use it again in the future.